Hippolyte François Jaubert
Encyclopedia
Count Hippolyte François Jaubert (28 October 1798 – 5 December 1874) was a French politician and botanist.
Jaubert was born in Paris
, the son of François Hippolyte Jaubert (a purser
in the French Navy
, killed at the Battle of the Nile
in 1798) and Rosalie Mélanie Cheminade (a landowner at Givry, in the commune of Cours-les-Barres
in the department of Cher, who died in 1817). He was adopted by his uncle, Count François Jaubert (1758–1822), Councilor of State
and governor of the Bank of France under the First Empire
. Although Jaubert was passionate about natural history, his uncle made him study law, while allowing him to study with René Desfontaines (1750–1831) and Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu (1748–1836). He was called to the bar in 1821, but shortly afterwards his uncle died, Jaubert inheriting the title of Count and an immense fortune. With this money he was able to buy large landholdings in Berry
, ten blast furnaces in the departments of Nièvre
and Cher (where his mother's family originated), and become director of the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans (Paris–Orléans railway company), all the while concentrating on botany and politics.
He married Marie Boigues (died 1864), sister of Louis Boigues, a manufacturer at Imphy
and founder of the town of Fourchambault
. They had two children:
In 1821 Jaubert toured Auvergne
and Provence
with his friend Victor Jacquemont
(1801–1832), studying the flora and geology of those regions. That same year, together with Karl Sigismund Kunth (1788–1850), Adolphe Brongniart (1801–1876), Adrien de Jussieu (1797–1853), Jean Baptiste Antoine Guillemin
(1796–1842) and Achille Richard
(1794–1852), he founded the short-lived Natural History Society of Paris, which financed an expedition to Asia of several naturalists, among them Pierre Martin Rémi Aucher-Éloy
(1793–1838).
He joined the conseil général
of Cher in 1830, and became its president. He entered national politics at the time of the July Revolution
of 1830, and was elected six times to the Chamber of Deputies of France
, from 1831 to 1842. Initially close to the Doctrinaires
(supporters of a constitutional monarchy), he quickly attached himself to the republican prime minister Adolphe Thiers
, and served in the latter's second administration as Minister of Public Works
from 1 March to 28 October 1840.
During this period, the conservative deputy for Versailles
, Ovide de Rémilly, put forward an old proposal of the Left, that members of the Chamber of Deputies should be forbidden from accepting salaried public positions during their term of service. This was a proposal that Thiers himself had supported while in opposition, so to avoid a display of public hypocrisy, Thiers sent Jaubert to negotiate for its deferment. Jaubert was hostile to this reform, and wrote to a number of conservative deputies asking them to help bury the proposal. One of Jaubert's letters was leaked to the press, causing an outcry on the Left and questions in the Chamber. However, the operation was successful and the proposition was rejected by the deputies on 15 June 1840.
Following the general election of 9 July 1842
Jaubert was briefly in opposition to the government, and voted against the indemnity proposed by François Guizot
to be paid to Britain in compensation for the imprisonment of the missionary George Pritchard in Tahiti
.
He was appointed to the Peerage of France
on 27 November 1844.
He took no part in the Revolution of 1848
, and under the Second Empire
, he withdrew from political life, devoting himself to botany and business. He was elected to the French Academy of Sciences
in 1858, and was among the founders of the Botanical Society of France in 1854.
Following the collapse of the Second Empire in 1870 and the creation of the Third Republic
, Jaubert was elected representative of Cher in the National Assembly on 8 February 1871. From that date until his death at Montpellier
in 1874, he devoted himself almost entirely to politics.
Using the herbarium
that he collected and those of the National Museum of Natural History
, and with the help of Édouard Spach
(1801–1879), he published his Illustrationes plantarum orientalium ("illustrations of plants of the east"; five volumes; Roret, Paris, 1842–1857).
He was decorated Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur
on 27 April 1830.
Jaubert was born in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, the son of François Hippolyte Jaubert (a purser
Purser
The purser joined the warrant officer ranks of the Royal Navy in the early fourteenth century and existed as a Naval rank until 1852. The development of the warrant officer system began in 1040 when five English ports began furnishing warships to King Edward the Confessor in exchange for certain...
in the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
, killed at the Battle of the Nile
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...
in 1798) and Rosalie Mélanie Cheminade (a landowner at Givry, in the commune of Cours-les-Barres
Cours-les-Barres
Cours-les-Barres is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre region of France.-Geography:An area of farming and forestry comprising a village and several hamlets situated by the banks of both the Loire River and the Loire lateral canal, some east of Bourges at the junction of the D920 with...
in the department of Cher, who died in 1817). He was adopted by his uncle, Count François Jaubert (1758–1822), Councilor of State
Conseiller d'État
A French Councillor of State is a high-level government official of administrative law in the Council of State of France.-Under the Old Regime:...
and governor of the Bank of France under the First Empire
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
. Although Jaubert was passionate about natural history, his uncle made him study law, while allowing him to study with René Desfontaines (1750–1831) and Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu (1748–1836). He was called to the bar in 1821, but shortly afterwards his uncle died, Jaubert inheriting the title of Count and an immense fortune. With this money he was able to buy large landholdings in Berry
Berry (province)
Berry is a region located in the center of France. It was a province of France until the provinces were replaced by départements on 4 March 1790....
, ten blast furnaces in the departments of Nièvre
Nièvre
Nièvre is a department in the centre of France named after the Nièvre River.-History:Nièvre is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
and Cher (where his mother's family originated), and become director of the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans (Paris–Orléans railway company), all the while concentrating on botany and politics.
He married Marie Boigues (died 1864), sister of Louis Boigues, a manufacturer at Imphy
Imphy
Imphy is a commune in the Nièvre department in Bourgogne, France.-Demographics:At the time of the 1999 census, the population was 4015. On 1 January 2004, the estimate was 3850. The population of Imphy has fallen on account of the decrease in industrial activities in the area. At one time the...
and founder of the town of Fourchambault
Fourchambault
Fourchambault is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.-Demographics:At the 1999 census, the population was 4828. On 1 January 2005, the estimate was 4786.-References:*...
. They had two children:
- Louis Hippolyte Francois Jaubert, who became prefect of the department of SartheSartheSarthe is a French department, named after the Sarthe River.- History :The department was created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790, pursuant to the law of December 22, 1789, starting from a part of the province of Maine which was divided into two departments, Sarthe to the east and...
; - Claire Mélanie Jaubert, who became by her marriage Countess Benoist d'Azy.
In 1821 Jaubert toured Auvergne
Auvergne (province)
Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....
and Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
with his friend Victor Jacquemont
Victor Jacquemont
Victor Jacquemont was a French botanist and geologist.Born in Paris on August 8, 1801, Victor Jacquemont was the youngest of four sons of Venceslas Jacquemont and Rose Laisné....
(1801–1832), studying the flora and geology of those regions. That same year, together with Karl Sigismund Kunth (1788–1850), Adolphe Brongniart (1801–1876), Adrien de Jussieu (1797–1853), Jean Baptiste Antoine Guillemin
Jean Baptiste Antoine Guillemin
Jean Baptiste Antoine Guillemin was a French botanist.In 1812 he was apprenticed to a pharmacist in Dijon, and in 1814 moved to Geneva, where he studied with Jean Pierre Étienne Vaucher and Augustin Pyramus de Candolle...
(1796–1842) and Achille Richard
Achille Richard
Achille Richard was a French botanist and physician .He was son of a notable botanist, Louis-Claude Marie Richard .Pharmacist in the French fleet and member of several well-known societies of their time....
(1794–1852), he founded the short-lived Natural History Society of Paris, which financed an expedition to Asia of several naturalists, among them Pierre Martin Rémi Aucher-Éloy
Pierre Martin Rémi Aucher-Éloy
Pierre Martin Remi Aucher-Éloy was a French pharmacist and botanist who was a native of Blois.He received his education at Orléans and later Paris. In 1830 he relocated to Istanbul with aims of creating an Herbier d'Orient...
(1793–1838).
He joined the conseil général
General councils (France)
The General councils are assemblies of the French departments. They are elected by universal suffrage.-List of the Presidents of the General councils:-External links:*...
of Cher in 1830, and became its president. He entered national politics at the time of the July Revolution
July Revolution
The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or in French, saw the overthrow of King Charles X of France, the French Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, who himself, after 18 precarious years on the throne, would in turn be overthrown...
of 1830, and was elected six times to the Chamber of Deputies of France
Chamber of Deputies of France
Chamber of Deputies was the name given to several parliamentary bodies in France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries:* 1814–1848 during the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy, the Chamber of Deputies was the Lower chamber of the French Parliament, elected by census suffrage.*...
, from 1831 to 1842. Initially close to the Doctrinaires
Doctrinaires
Doctrinaires was the name given during the Bourbon Restoration to the little group of French Royalists who hoped to reconcile the Monarchy with the Revolution, and power with liberty...
(supporters of a constitutional monarchy), he quickly attached himself to the republican prime minister Adolphe Thiers
Adolphe Thiers
Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers was a French politician and historian. was a prime minister under King Louis-Philippe of France. Following the overthrow of the Second Empire he again came to prominence as the French leader who suppressed the revolutionary Paris Commune of 1871...
, and served in the latter's second administration as Minister of Public Works
Minister of Public Works (France)
The Minister of Public Works was a cabinet member in the Government of France. Formerly known as "Ministre des Travaux Publics" , in 1870, it was largely subsumed by the position of Minister of Transportation. Since the 1960s, the positions of Minister of Public Works has reappeared, often...
from 1 March to 28 October 1840.
During this period, the conservative deputy for Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
, Ovide de Rémilly, put forward an old proposal of the Left, that members of the Chamber of Deputies should be forbidden from accepting salaried public positions during their term of service. This was a proposal that Thiers himself had supported while in opposition, so to avoid a display of public hypocrisy, Thiers sent Jaubert to negotiate for its deferment. Jaubert was hostile to this reform, and wrote to a number of conservative deputies asking them to help bury the proposal. One of Jaubert's letters was leaked to the press, causing an outcry on the Left and questions in the Chamber. However, the operation was successful and the proposition was rejected by the deputies on 15 June 1840.
Following the general election of 9 July 1842
French legislative election, 1842
The 1842 general election organized the sixth legislature of the July Monarchy. The election was held on 9 July.Only citizens paying taxes were eligible to vote.-Results:Louis-Philippe of France dissolved the legislature on 16 July 1846.- Sources :...
Jaubert was briefly in opposition to the government, and voted against the indemnity proposed by François Guizot
François Guizot
François Pierre Guillaume Guizot was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848, a conservative liberal who opposed the attempt by King Charles X to usurp legislative power, and worked to sustain a constitutional...
to be paid to Britain in compensation for the imprisonment of the missionary George Pritchard in Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
.
He was appointed to the Peerage of France
Peerage of France
The Peerage of France was a distinction within the French nobility which appeared in the Middle Ages. It was abolished in 1789 during the French Revolution, but it reappeared in 1814 at the time of the Bourbon Restoration which followed the fall of the First French Empire...
on 27 November 1844.
He took no part in the Revolution of 1848
French Revolution of 1848
The 1848 Revolution in France was one of a wave of revolutions in 1848 in Europe. In France, the February revolution ended the Orleans monarchy and led to the creation of the French Second Republic. The February Revolution was really the belated second phase of the Revolution of 1830...
, and under the Second Empire
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
, he withdrew from political life, devoting himself to botany and business. He was elected to the French Academy of Sciences
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...
in 1858, and was among the founders of the Botanical Society of France in 1854.
Following the collapse of the Second Empire in 1870 and the creation of the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
, Jaubert was elected representative of Cher in the National Assembly on 8 February 1871. From that date until his death at Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
in 1874, he devoted himself almost entirely to politics.
Using the herbarium
Herbarium
In botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...
that he collected and those of the National Museum of Natural History
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
The Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle is the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France.- History :The museum was formally founded on 10 June 1793, during the French Revolution...
, and with the help of Édouard Spach
Édouard Spach
Édouard Spach was a French botanist.The son of a merchant in Strasbourg, he went to Paris in 1824 where he studied botany with René Desfontaines and Antoine Laurent de Jussieu . He became the secretary of Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel...
(1801–1879), he published his Illustrationes plantarum orientalium ("illustrations of plants of the east"; five volumes; Roret, Paris, 1842–1857).
He was decorated Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
on 27 April 1830.